Book review: 'Why Religion? A Personal Story' by Elaine Pagels

Elaine Pagels is a professor of religion at Princeton University known for her bestselling writing on the gnostic gospels, secret ancient texts considered heretical and omitted from what is now the New Testament. These eliminated texts contain many voices (Jewish, Christian, Egyptian and Greek) speaking about the early Christian movement. An example from the gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus as saying, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Pagels has long contemplated the meaning of these and other texts.

In her latest book, “Why Religion? A Personal Story,” Pagels ponders the relevance of religion. Her husband Heinz, a theoretical physicist and the executive director of the New York Academy of Sciences, agreed there are metaphysical questions that no other discipline can answer. But still Pagels wants to know, why does religion persist? With all we know centuries later, with the mass of scientific revelation, what do we want from religion?

Read More